It's probably another one of those patents falling into the 'Bleeding obvious to anyone with a brain' category. We'll see how it turns out. It's important to note however that just because someone has a patent it doesn't mean it's worth the paper it's written on.

The patent is so general, it could basically apply to any updating software. I don't think this one will go very far, except maybe alert a few more people that software patents are getting out of hand.

Software updating has been around for years. Active desktop has too. We've seen time and time again, if patents are not enforced in a fair amount of time, they lose all legal weight. This suit will be dismissed early on.

I disagree! I think that this suit will single-handedly demolish both Apple and Microsoft, leading to the inevitable rise of Linux...That is, until BT sues for having a patent on drawing penguins, at which point, Linux, too, will succumb to its own illicit behavior.

Software updating has been around for years. Active desktop has too. We've seen time and time again, if patents are not enforced in a fair amount of time, they lose all legal weight. This suit will be dismissed early on.

paul

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I agree absolutely 10000%

At my (now former) school, patents are covered very much in the mechanical engineering program, because they're such a big part of that field. And remember, getting a patent is expensive, as it requires a patent lawyer. You're looking at $50k-60k per patent.

At my (now former) school, patents are covered very much in the mechanical engineering program, because they're such a big part of that field. And remember, getting a patent is expensive, as it requires a patent lawyer. You're looking at $50k-60k per patent.

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Only $1000 of that or so goes to the government. If you have a staff attorney they might as well spend any spare time publishing frivolous patents.

The government has an electronic filing system now. Imagine a travesty engine linked to the web submit form. Since patents don't get strenuous of an inspection you could probably get away with it.

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